Downtown restaurants are "hopping" this Easter

SOUTH BEND, Ind., -- Many fine dinning establishments that are usually closed on Sunday afternoon opened their doors to cash in on the Easter Holiday. One area that will benefited was downtown South Bend.

Jesse Vogel the Director of Sales at the Morris Center that put on the third annual Easter brunch at the Palais Royale said, "This year we're a little shy of 400 people. And with the increase of families wanting the luxury of someone else preparing the feast brings the addition of more revenue and more staff."

"We add staff people every year," said Vogel.

Barb Johnston of Granger who usually is the chef on Easter this year had brunch at the Palais Royale for the first time with her family.

She said, "We walked in and I said, you know, I want to break tradition. South Bend needs to have a lot of things like this, it's a thriving community so we are happy to be here."

And so is Adele DeRosa-Ciao, the owner of Ciao's Restaurant right down the street.

DeRosa-Ciao said, "This is the first holiday that we've ever been open, I like to bring more people to downtown."

Her plan worked to attract more customers to the downtown area.

There were over 100 people who called in reservations for the American-Italian cuisine.

The Easter brunch prep for DeRosa-Ciao and her staff started yesterday and hasn't stopped since.

Dylan Carlson an ambassador with Down Town South Bend (DTSB) said, "normally this street is still pretty empty by this time."

However on Easter Sunday he said he stayed quite busy with the steady traffic flow into the down town area.

Joel Gard the Assistant Manager of Cafe' Navarre said, "We expanded the dinner menu, which includes lamb, prime rib, and a few other offerings that we don't normally do. We are open on Sundays usually beginning at 4 p.m. until 9 p.m. However Cafe Navarre opened at 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. for Easter Sunday."